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THE PASSIVE VOICE

- The passive voice is much more common in English than in Spanish. Compare these two examples of sentences in passive voice with their translations into Spanish: The walls were painted pink. Pintaron las paredes de rosa. We use the passive voice when we want to speak about something/someone affected by an action, emphasizing the action and its object, not who/what caused it. - The subject of the active verb will become the agent of the passive, introduced by the preposition by. The agent can be omitted when: a) It is clear who he/she/it is: The letter was deliverd early this morning (by the postman) La carta fue entregada esta maana temprano (we know that the postman is who delivers letters) b) Its not important or it is unknown: My wallet was found yesterday. Encontraron mi cartera ayer (the most important thing is the wallet) My bike was stolen last week. Me robaron la bici la semana pasada (we dont know who did it) - The agent is mentioned when it is important to know who did it: Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare (if we dont mention the agent, the information is not complete) - There are some verbs which can not be used in the passive voice (intransitive verbs). They do not have any objects, this is, nobody is affected by the action or receives it. Some of them are arrive, come, die, exist, happen, have, live, etc. - Some advice: * When changing an affirmative sentence from the active to the passive voice, count the words in the active verb. In the passive voice, the verb must always have one more word. They sell newspapers Newspapers are sold. They have studied several books Several books have been studied. * If the sentence is interrogative, the auxiliary verb comes first (or, at least, immediately after the wh- word). Did anybody bring the parcel? Was the parcel brought? Where have they made that car? Where has that car been made? * If the sentence is negative, the adverb not comes immediately after the first auxiliary verb. They are not making the meal The meal is not being made. Nobody could understand the question The question could not be understood.

( nobody is a negative word, like no one, nothing, nowhere, no

FORMATION OF TENSES - It is formed with the Direct / Indirect Object of the active sentence + verb TO BE in the same verbal tense as the active verb + the past participle of the main verb: They make Nissan cars in vila Nissan cars are made in vila.

( main verb in Present Simple

( TO BE in Present Simple + Participle of make

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VERBAL TENSE Present simple Present continuous Past simple Past continuous Present Perfect Past Perfect Future simple Future perfect Conditional simple Conditional perfect Infinitive Infinitive perfect Gerund Gerund perfect Modal verbs Modal perfect Semi-modal verbs Notes:

ACTIVE VOICE makes / make is / are making made was / were making has / have made had made will make will have made would make would have made to make to have made making having made must write may have done have to write

PASSIVE VOICE is / are made is / are being made was / were made was / were being made has / have been made had been made will be made will have been made would be made would have been made to be made to have been made being made having been made must be written may have been done have to be written

- The only continuous tenses transformed into the passive voice are the Present Continuous and the Past Continuous. The rest of the continuous tenses can not be transformed. - The passive voice of the Perfect tenses is very easy. You just have to put been between have and the participle.

VERBS WITH TWO OBJECTS - When the active verb has two objects (direct and indirect), the indirect object will usually be the subject of the passive sentence, although it is also possible (but less usual) to use the direct object. They offered Harry a good job Harry was offered a good job -or A good job was offered to Harry IO DO - Among the verbs which admit this structure are give, send, show, lend, ask, tell, offer, order, pay. Theyve paid me a lot of money Ive been paid a lot of money The doorman showed me the way to the toilet I was shown the way to the toilet (by the doorman) Someone told me how to do it I was told how to do it They will give me a special prize I will be given a special prize

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OTHER USES OF THE PASSIVE VOICE - The passive voice can also be used with verbs like believe, consider, expect, know, report, say, suppose, think, etc. We can form two different types of passive structures: a) Using the structure It is said..., It is believed..., It is known, It was considered... + THAT. b) Using the subject of the subordinated clause as the subject of the passive sentence + is said / is believed / was known / was considered... + Infinitive / Infinitive Perfect. Experts say that this house dates back to the 12th century. It is said that this house dates back to the 12th century (Se dice que...) This house is said to date back to the 12th century. They believe this sword belonged to King Arthur. It is believed that this sword belonged to King Arthur (Se cree que...) This sword is believed to have belonged to King Arthur. They thought the flowers had arrived from Holland. It was thought that the flowers had arrived from Holland (Se pensaba que...) The flowers were thought to have arrived from Holland.

HAVE / GET something DONE - We use the structure have/get something + object + past participle with a passive meaning to express that somebody does something for us. Im going to have/get my car repaired Voy a llevar el coche a reparar. Compare this sentence with: Im going to repair my car Voy a repararme el coche (in this case, I myself am the person who is going to repair the car)

- It is very useful to follow this order: Active voice: They are tiling my bathroom. (Estn alicatando mi cuarto de bao) ( Present Continuous WHO FOR? (this will be the subject of the passive voice) for me I + HAVE (in the same verbal tense as the verb in the active voice: here, Present Continuous) am having + WHAT? (what is tiled/repaired/painted/cleaned/fixed...?) the bathroom + PAST PARTICIPLE of the verb in the active voice tiled Passive voice: I am having the bathroom tiled (Me estn alicatando el cuarto de bao)

More examples: - Susan will have her hair cut next week Susan va a (ir a) cortarse el pelo la semana que viene. - Weve just had the childrens room decorated Acaban de decorarnos la habitacin de los nios. - In certain situations this structure can also be used to indicate that something not very pleasant has happened to us. I had my ankle twisted playing football Se me torci / Me torc el tobillo jugando al ftbol. We had the windows broken during the demonstration Nos rompieron las ventanas durante la manifestacin.